I see me being away for over a year people still are rating down posts... makes me a little sad about the community.

It's almost as if you were fishing for rate ups...

Anyway, rate downs have no correlation to the quality of the community, so I have no clue why it makes you a little sad. Someone, in someplace, at some time did not like your post. Inconceivable, I know, but it has happened. I highly recommend just ignoring karma next time, because things never end well if you care about it.